HomeMy WebLinkAboutLakeshore Advance, 2013-09-25, Page 5Wedi►esday: eptaritier. /5', 2013' • Lakeshore Advance 5
community
A Cautionary Tale of Great Lakes Pleasure Cruising In 1913
Pat Rowe
It is difficult for a present day
reader to comprehend the scope
and significance of the Great
Lakes to our history. The Canada
we have today exists in large part
due to economic growth and
human settlement which these
*eland seas made possible. A
lunched years ago, commercial
shipping on the lakes was huge.
Author Paul Carroll tells us that
its 1913 a person standing on
Lake llttron's shore each day of
the shipping season would have
been able to count a total of over
two thousand lakers en route to a
port somewhere in Canada or the
United States.
Another marine historian,
Iletlry Wolfe, wrote this quota-
tion which illustrates my point:
"At one timt' tllt're were
more people asleep 011 boats on
the Great Lakes than on any
other octan in the world."
Cargo boats, however, were
not the only commercial enter-
prise on the lakes.
In 1913, cruise lines offered the
public leisurely holiday trips on
comfortable, even luxurious
boats. For those who could afford
it, apparently cruising was "the
thing to do." Most of these com-
panies were American although
several Canadian ones provided
similar vacations and Canada
Steamship Lines owned three
such sister ships, the lluronic,
Noronic and the I lamonic. On
November 7, 1913, the lluronic:
was in Port Arthur on Lake Supe-
rior about to leave for her final
return trip south for the season.
'there were only fifty passengers
onboard because it was s0 late in
the fall but the fares had been
reduced since peak season was
long past. 'Ibis trip turned out to
be one the passengers would
remember for the rest of their
lives.
We know something of what
really happened because the
people survived and were inter-
viewed afterwards. Author
Robert 1Ienitning tells the story
in his hook. (Ships gone
Missing)
A couple from Windsor Werl'
celebrating their wedding anni-
versary with a seven day round
trip on 1luronic. The cost was
$56.66 which included meals and
rail transportation from their
home to Port Iluron where the
trip began. 'they had a very pleas-
ant time going north; the weather
was unseasonably 1Vit1111 and
sunny for November and at the
Soo locks the temperature was
over 20 degrees celsius. What a
different story it was on their
return from the Lakehead! Dur-
ing the night of the 7th and into
the next two days The I iuronic
encountered the first onslaught
of the Great Storm of 1913. The
suddenness of the storm caught
everyone Unawares and one Ulan
recounted that he had just eaten
lunch and then gone on deck for
a stroll when it sudden blast of
1Vitld followed iininediately by a
wall of water combined to almost
From the Countryside
John Russell
Tenth in a series on Guiding Bea-
cons of North Lambton
Currently featured in Shine;
Spotlight on women of Lambton
exhibit at the Lambton Heritage
Museum
This week we will feature a com-
munity activist and a long time
volunteer. While one.Omfllufli(y to work diligently in her
community, the other has passed
on leaving a legacy of service and
memories in her conununity. Both,
together, exemplify the old adage
that it takes all sorts to make a
whole and a stronger larger whole
at that.
Nancy Vidler is a proud defender
of the natural environment in
Lambton Shores. Iler family has
been cottaging in Port Franks since
the 1930's, and Nancy and her hus-
band chose to retire to the only nat-
urally gated hamlet in Ontario in
2000. Nancy has sat on a variety of
environmental committees since
moving to Port Franks, including
being a founding board member of
the Lambton Shores Trails Com-
mittee and more recently, chairing
the Lambton Shores Phraginites
Group.
Nancy is working with many
partners to battle phragmites, an
invasive grass species that is
destroying our natural landscape.
'the plant can grow stalks 4.5 metres
high, has huge seed hearing capac-
ity . With its stolonic root mass and
up to 200 stalks per square metre, it
has the ability to crowd out all
native species and the result is a
loss of habitat for most species.
Nancy has built coalitions between
and amongst municipal, county
and provincial agencies and was
the first to host, in 2013 a workshop
for municipal employees and pri-
vate contractors on how to control
and prevent the spread of
phragmites.
Moving forward, Nancy vows, "
... we must continue to educate.
Stay positive and look at ways we
can do things, not reasons we can't.
Some people will say that, phrag is
all over; yes, it's all over, but the
worst thing we can do Is nothing."
I ler nominator 'leather Bradley
commends her friend for, "Nancy's
strong leadership and willingness
to go above and beyond what might
be expected , which continues to
benefit the communities and eco-
systems of Lambton Shores." As
someone who has worked with
Nancy , her advocacy is positive
and reinforcing and gives credence
to good civic engagement and
activism. Grass roots leadership
will always have its place.
Our second beacon featured this
week is Vera Paisley who grew up in
Warwick Township, but called
Arkona her home. Vera was a librar-
ian who impacted many lives in her
community and was nominated by
Linda Koolen. Serving as Arkona's
librarian from 1939 until 1973, she
served her community well in pro-
viding information as well as books
long before the computer. As with
all local librarians, Vera was also a
conduit to many community organ-
izations and events.
Vera was on the Arkona Ceme-
tery Board where she was diligent
in keeping local records. During
this time she transcribed the burial
stones and this information was
instrumental in the publication of
the Arkona Cemetery Book in 1985.
As a dedicated community partici-
pant, Vera spent many years as sec-
retary for the Arkona branch of the
Women's institute and was
involved with planning committee
for the Arkona Centennial. Vera
Paisley passed on in 2005 and will
be long remembered for her many
contributions to her community's
well being and in keeping its mem-
ories intact.
throw hits overboard.
For forty eight hours the cap-
tain and crew fought to save the
boat while the passengers, fear-
ing for their lives, (conned life
jackets and waited to be told to
go to the life boats. The tempera-
ture p1111111111'tt'd a11(1 the sleet
turned to a whiteout blizzard but
the boat eventually grounded on
sand where it remained, coated
with ice and pilot house in ruins,
until the storm abated and help
arrived.
'the Port Iluron Tinles-herald
printed this report on November
12t11 :
"The lake bottom where the
Iluronir grounded is of a sandy
nature and the boat will not he
damaged to any great extent. A
blinding snowstorm was raging
at the time the master was try-
ing to make for shelter under
Whitefish Point when she
stranded. No alarm is felt for
the' passengers as they are
receiving the best of care and
attention and aside from the
delay i►► arriving will not be
inconvenienced to any great
extent."
Cruising on the Great Lakes
sounds like a wonderful idea but
beware of the illo11111 of
November!
Bluewater Biz
Mark Cassidy
Most service clubs not just
the Rotary were fortned as a
networking group for busi-
nessmen and later business-
women. It is only natural that
service clubs would be keenly
interested in local economic
development. After all is there
a better way to boost your own
business prospects than to
help the entire comtnunity
prosper? John F. Kennedy per-
haps said it best back in 1963,
"A rising tide lifts all boats" For
the uninitiated out there local
economic development deals
with downtown revitalization,
commercial industrial and
residential development, busi-
ness recruitment and reten-
tion, planning, zoning and
building codes. In rural com-
munities like yours service
clubs play a very important
role in local economic devel-
opment. First there is leader-
ship. Service clubs develop
community leaders who know
how to get things done. Lead-
ership is perhaps the scarcest
resource in small rural com-
munities so service clubs are
building conununity capacity
with every new leader trained.
Then there are the projects
that service clubs tackle.
Projects like building stuff the
community needs in order to
grow. 'Dike the new splash pad
in Hayfield for example. The
project cost over $160,000 and
all of it was raised by the Opti-
mist Club through community
fundraising.
1
�1'
1 , 1
1.2 million Canadians —1 in 25 — carry the gene for cystic fibrosis.
( 1iluI1;111 (• \ .ick
1 il)10' I\ I
To It,lrn melte. please contact:
1-800-378-CCFF
www.cysticfibrosis.ca